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Standard resolution

Would I be safe in assuming that the standard resolution for web users is 1024x768? The reason I ask is because I'm developing the web site for my school, except they've already gone and paid for a "professional" design and now I have to use that. The header image is 997px wide and it has writing which would get messed up if I reduced it although with a bit of playing around and yeah, I reckon I could get it to fit in 800x600 but I'm just asking.

What are the opinions of all you pros out there for a poor little beginner like me?

The school computers run at 800x600 but the site won't be for internal viewing. The most "internal" use it would get would be on the admin side from staff. The government provides the school with a standard site that information can be manually edited on, but the layout and most parts of the site are generic, so they've asked me to create them one.

I was originally going to do it all myself, but there were some hiccups with hosting and now I'm just getting to start and I finish in a few weeks so I'll probably end up modifying ezPublish to do the job.

I got the spliced header image(s) from the template they gave me and joined them all together, and here is my version with some space cut out and edited, smaller font. What do you think, good enough? It's 794px which just scrapes in although I don't know what the viewable area is for most browsers

Chop off 24 pixels in the middle of the graphic. In my opinion the left side of the building is a prime candidate to go, probably from the border to the flag pole. This would put you in line with accepted widths and prevent horizontal scrollbars when the window elements are drawn.

Most computers bought from stores are usually set at 800 x 600. Back in the day the default res was 640 x 480, but now a days it's stepped up.

And it all depends also on the target audience. For example intranets. All the computers are basically drones is most cases and are generally set at the same resolution. Another example would be lets say your target audience are people between 55 and 75, well in most cases people of that age can't see to well, so your res would be the lowest.

Well, the point is, if you have an audience choose carefully your res preference. But if your audience is anyone, then start with 800 x 600.

Most computers bought from stores are usually set at 800 x 600. Back in the day the default res was 640 x 480, but now a days it's stepped up.

Actually, with the booming popularity of 15" and 17" LCDs, you'll soon start seeing a lot more default resolutions of 1024x768 and 1280x1024 (the native resolutions of 15" and 17" LCDs, respectively). 800x600 will go the way of the dinosaur when CRTs become less mainstream. If I go for a static-width site I still keep to 800x600 though, because everyone I know running at those large resolutions does not browse fullscreen .

Because Web clients can vary so greatly (from small cell
phones to large color monitors, to ascii terminals, etc.),
and because the author today doesn't know what clients
users will use, we prefer not to prescribe design to
a single resolution. Instead, we recommend that authors
use technologies (such as style sheets) that allow them
to express their creativity, while also allowing users to
override settings such as font sizes when required to
meet their needs.

[There are other issues as well, such as variations in
readability of glyphs of different sizes in the world's
languages.]

The W3C site tends not to specify any font sizes,
so that content is presented according to user preferences.

My take on things are to still design for 800x600 because so many places still use it. 150 computers at my school are set at that and my school is more modernised than many in this country (albeit it is still behind by my standards!). It wouldn't create a good impression of the college if it didn't look right in the viewer's browser...therefore to be on the safe side, don't make assumptions that people are on 1024x768 now, people are further behind than you think .

don't make assumptions that people are on 1024x768 now, people are further behind than you think .

agreed...the most common mistake people make (including me is they think that their environment is referential. If everyone around you use 1280x1024, you jump to conclusion that majority uses this resolution...

1600x1200 and i browse full screen since i have a few monitors. I'm just a beginner but one thing i've noticed is alot of designers forget about how things look at large resolutions and with text size set larger. Even browsed a few peoples portfolio sites here that werent looking as intended due to my resolution/screen size. Something to keep in mind I guess.